Professional Development

Position Statement: Close the Innovation Deficit Coalition Commends Introduction of American Innovation Act

March 16, 2015

The Close the Innovation Deficit campaign, a coalition of more than 120 national business, higher education, scientific, patient, and other organizations, commends Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) for introducing the American Innovation Act today. This legislation would take major steps toward closing the nation's innovation deficit by significantly increasing investments in key federal science agencies and programs.

These agencies and programs - the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy Office of Science, the Department of Defense's science and technology programs, the National Institute of Standards and Technology's scientific and technical research and services, and NASA's science directorate - conduct vital research that is essential to the nation's long-term economic growth and national security, as well as the quality of life of all Americans.

Unfortunately, the nation's lagging support of research, combined with rapid increases in such investments by our international competitors, is creating an innovation deficit that threatens U.S. global economic leadership. Enactment and implementation of the American Innovation Act, as well as S. 289, the American Cures Act, a bill Senator Durbin has also introduced that would provide for similar investments in the National Institutes of Health and other health agencies, would reverse this trend and pave the way to closing the innovation deficit.